A Heritage of Strength: How the Dupatta Shapes My Identity
The following post was submitted by Bushra Qadeem, an alum from the 2023-2024 Global Multifaith Fellowship. Bushra lives in Pakistan, where she leads a children’s school and organizes peace initaitives across the community.
Bushra’s story below is part of The SCARF Project initiative and highlights one of the many reasons women today wear scarves and head coverings.
When I drape my dupatta over my head, it feels like more than fabric—it feels like history resting on my shoulders. Across centuries and cultures, scarves and head coverings have symbolized tradition, protection, and faith. Yet today, this simple act has become a source of debate and misunderstanding. What was once a common practice across many religions and communities, is now narrowly associated with Islam, often overshadowed by controversy.
Head coverings have long been part of diverse traditions: Catholic nuns wear them as a sign of devotion, married Jewish women as an expression of modesty, and women in many cultures simply for protection or style. What these practices share is a heritage of dignity and identity—one that has, unfortunately, been politicized, reducing a personal and spiritual choice to a public spectacle.
Amid these shifting perceptions, I often return to what the head covering means to me.
My dupatta—a long cloth traditionally worn in South Asia—carries with layers of faith, culture, and memory. Since childhood, I have watched the women in my family and community wear the dupatta with ease, grace, and quiet strength, never as a burden but as an extension of themselves. For me, it is a source of protection, respect, and comfort—a thread that connects me to generations of women who lived their faith and embodied resilience long before me.
Wearing the dupatta is also a reminder of values I hold dear: compassion, dignity, and the courage to be visible in a world that often misunderstands difference. Every time I wrap it around my head, I feel anchored to my identity, yet free to interpret tradition on my own terms.
Today, some may see the dupatta as old-fashioned, but true modernity is not abandoning tradition—it is reimagining it. The dupatta can evolve, blending heritage with contemporary style, showing that faith, culture, and progress can coexist. It reminds us that what we wear can reflect not only our identity but our choices, values, and the dignity we extend to ourselves and others.
Faith and tradition are not walls—they are bridges. They are reminders that even in a changing world, we can honor the past while moving forward, and carry strength, beauty, and meaning with every fold of cloth.
As part of our commitment to ending gender-based violence, CWFL is raising awareness to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen through the The SCARF Project—a global campaign and fundraiser running November 25 to December 10. Through this initiative, CWFL will continue to provide programming and funding support for CWFL Fellows who are working to address violence. Your gift helps us expand this work and continue equipping women leaders who stand on the front lines of justice and healing.
Support the movement and make a donation at www.thescarfproject.org.
